The document summarizes the auto assembly process from stamping parts to final inspection. Key steps include stamping sheet metal, assembling the chassis, welding the body panels, painting the body, installing interior components, and mating the body to the chassis. It notes that many tasks are now performed by robots due to their precision and ability to reduce ergonomic risks to workers. The document also discusses some health and safety issues auto workers face such as repetitive strain injuries from the fast pace of work and how regulations and unions have helped address these problems.

1. Auto Assembly Plant
Introduction
Cathy Walker
Former Director, Health and Safety
Department, Canadian Auto Workers Union

2. Auto parts are supplied from owned
plants or from independent plants
• Power train suppliers of:
– Engines
– Transmissions

3. Auto parts suppliers
• Windshields
• Steering wheels
• Seats, etc.

5. AUTO ASSEMBLY PROCESS

6. Stamping:
Stamping out and cutting parts from
sheet metal

7. Stamping line enclosed

8. Chassis
The typical car or truck is constructed from the
ground up (and out). The frame forms the base
on which the body rests and from which all
subsequent assembly components follow. The
frame is placed on the assembly line and clamped
to the conveyer to prevent shifting as it moves
down the line. From here the automobile frame
moves to component assembly areas where
complete front and rear suspensions, gas tanks,
rear axles and drive shafts, gear boxes, steering
box components, wheel drums, and braking
systems are sequentially installed.

9. Chassis

10. Chassis

11. Body
• Body is built on a separate assembly line from
chassis
• The floor pan is the largest body component
to which a multitude of panels and braces will
subsequently be either welded or bolted. As it
moves down the assembly line, held in place
by clamping fixtures, the shell of the vehicle is
built.

12. Underbody

13. Body
• First, the left and right quarter panels are robotically
disengaged from pre-staged shipping containers and placed
onto the floor pan, where they are stabilized with
positioning fixtures and welded.
• The front and rear door pillars, roof, and body side panels
are assembled in the same fashion. The shell of the
automobile assembled in this section of the process lends
itself to the use of robots because articulating arms can
easily introduce various component braces and panels to
the floor pan and perform a high number of weld
operations in a time frame and with a degree of accuracy
no human workers could ever approach. Robots can pick
and load 91 kilogram roof panels and place them precisely
in the proper weld position with tolerance variations held
to within .0005 of a centimeter.

14. Side body

15. Welding:
Very smoky job, welding flash;
today mostly done by robots

16. Body in white

17. Body in White
• Prior to painting, the body must pass through a
rigorous inspection process, the body in white
operation. The shell of the vehicle passes through a
brightly lit white room where it is fully wiped down by
visual inspectors using cloths soaked in hi-light oil.
Under the lights, this oil allows inspectors to see any
defects in the sheet metal body panels. Dings, dents,
and any other defects are repaired right on the line by
skilled body repairmen. After the shell has been fully
inspected and repaired, the assembly conveyor carries
it through a cleaning station where it is immersed and
cleaned of all residual oil, dirt, and contaminants to
prepare it for painting.

18. Body in white inspection

19. Body in white inspection

20. Paint: E-coat
• As the shell exits the cleaning station it goes
through a drying booth and then through an
undercoat dip—an electrostatically charged
bath of undercoat paint (called the E-coat)
that covers every nook and cranny of the body
shell, both inside and out, with primer. This
coat acts as a substrate surface to which the
top coat of colored paint adheres.

21. Paint control room

22. Undercoat drying
• After the E-coat bath, the shell is again dried in a
booth as it proceeds on to the final paint
operation. In most automobile assembly plants
today, vehicle bodies are spray-painted by robots
that have been programmed to apply the exact
amounts of paint to just the right areas for just
the right length of time. Considerable research
and programming has gone into the dynamics of
robotic painting in order to ensure the fine "wet"
finishes we have come to expect. Robotic
painters have come a long way since Ford's first
Model Ts, which were painted by hand with a
brush.

23. Drying oven

24. Undercoat

25. Waterborne paint, outmoded

26. Paint, today, powder coat

27. Baking ovens
• Once the shell has
been fully covered
with a base coat of
color paint and a
clear top coat, the
conveyor transfers
the bodies through
baking ovens
where the paint is
cured at
temperatures
exceeding 135
degrees Celsius.

28. After paint, to interior assembly

29. Interior assembly
• The painted shell proceeds through the
interior assembly area where workers
assemble all of the instrumentation and wiring
systems, dash panels, interior lights, seats,
door and trim panels, headliners, radios,
speakers, all glass except the automobile
windshield, steering column and wheel, body
weather strips, vinyl tops, brake and gas
pedals, carpeting, and front and rear bumper
fascias.

30. Trim line

31. Trim line

32. Windshields used to be installed by hand

33. Today, windshields are installed by robots

34. Windshield
• Robots equipped with suction cups remove the
windshield from a shipping container, apply a
bead of urethane sealer to the perimeter of the
glass, and then place it into the body windshield
frame. Robots also pick seats and trim panels and
transport them to the vehicle for the ease and
efficiency of the assembly operator. After passing
through this section the shell is given a water test
to ensure the proper fit of door panels, glass, and
weather stripping. It is now ready to mate with
the chassis.

35. Body and chassis mate

36. Mate
• The chassis assembly conveyor and the body
shell conveyor meet at this stage of
production. As the chassis passes the body
conveyor the shell is robotically lifted from its
conveyor fixtures and placed onto the car
frame. Assembly workers, some at ground
level and some in work pits beneath the
conveyor, bolt the car body to the frame.

37. Final assembly, trim: tires, batteries,
gasoline, anti-freeze

38. Robot fuelling

39. Final Inspection

40. Checkpoint off the line
• The vehicle can now be started. From here it is
driven to a checkpoint off the line, where its
engine is audited, its lights and horn checked, its
tires balanced, and its charging system examined.
Any defects discovered at this stage require that
the car be taken to a central repair area, usually
located near the end of the line. A crew of skilled
trouble-shooters at this stage analyze and repair
all problems. When the vehicle passes final audit
it is given a price label and driven to a staging lot
where it will await shipment to its destination.

41. Final inspection

42. Specific OHS issues in auto
assembly plants
• Safety issues:
• Repetitive strain injuries
• Ergonomics and pace of work
• Machine guarding and lockout
• Health issues:
• Asbestos
• Metalworking fluids

43. Repetitive strain injuries (RSIs)
• RSIs in wrists, elbows and shoulders as a result
of speed up
• You don’t die from RSIs but these injuries are
very painful and sometimes mean workers
can’t continue to work
• 1989 Free Trade Agreement with United
States set the stage for assembly line speed
up

44. Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between
the United States and Canada
• Even though the
majority of
Canadians were
opposed to it
• Effective January 1,
1989
• Its purpose was to
benefit American
corporations

45. What effect did the Free Trade
Agreement have on the health and
safety of Canadian auto workers?

46. Workers Suffered from Speed-Up

48. (North American Free Trade
Agreement)
effective January 1, 1994

49. What effect did NAFTA have on the health and
safety of auto workers in Canada?

50. CAW - McMaster University
Auto Parts Study
1,600 workers in 1995
• Conditions were bad:
– 61% said their workload was too much
– 40% said they worked in pain at least half the time
– 44% said their job was more tense than it was 2
years before
– 55% said they couldn't keep up the current pace
until age 60
– 53% said they worked as fast as they could most of
each day
– 37% said they worked in an awkward position at
least half of the day

51. CAW - McMaster University
Auto Parts Study
1,600 workers in 1995
• And they were getting worse:
– 41% said their health risks at work were higher
than 2 years before
– 45% said they were more tired after work than 2
years before
– 52% said their workload was heavier than 2 years
before

52. Ergonomics and
Pace of Work:
Workers in auto assembly and
auto parts needed:
• More rest time
• Union representatives to fight against
speed-up
• Ergonomics: principle of fitting job to
worker rather than other way around

53. Solutions:
Collective Bargaining
• Bargained improvements in Big 3 collective
agreements: union ergonomics and time study
representatives, training and other
requirements
• Ergonomics requirements to design jobs better
• Ergonomics and time-study representatives:
chosen by union but paid for by employer
• More time at work for rest and more time off
the job

54. Union ergonomics reps work with workers to
design better jobs

55. Solutions:
Ergonomics Laws
• Lobbied hard in every Canadian jurisdiction
• Successful in Canada and some provinces
• But the province of Ontario we succeeded only in
getting policies, not laws
• No-one should have to do overhead work like this
repeatedly

56. Ergonomic Orders in Province of British
Columbia:
Selected Industries, April 15/98 - April 30/2000
380
245
210
190
160
45
Health Care
Government
Supermarkets
Hotels
Poultry Processing
Sawmilling

57. RSIs Decreased Dramatically
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
2000 2001 2002
Sales
Manu.
Constr.
• The number of RSI
claims accepted
dropped dramatically
in 2002
• WCB reports safer
workplaces

58. Laws work
• Compel corporations
to modify their
behaviour in
accordance with
society’s wishes
• Ensure the dictates
of profit are not the
only mechanism
which influences
corporate behaviour

59. KPMG Canadian Environmental
Management Survey
Canadian Corporate Executives reported:
• 16 % motivated to take action on
environmental issues when government
programs were voluntary
• 95% were motivated to take action on
environmental issues to ensure
compliance with government regulations

60. Toyota Tianjin
• Visited plant in 2004
• In 2000 the average
service, 2 years
• Young workers,
technical junior high
school
• Small cars and
Corollas, including
hybrids

61. Health & Safety
• Pace of work too fast
and too hard, even
young, fit workers
won’t last

63. GM Shanghai: 5,500 workers
Pace of work in 2004 seemed OK; 2008
still seemed OK

64. Beijing Jeep: first automotive joint
venture in China, 1983
• 2004 visit was to the old plant

65. Beijing Jeep

66. Pace of work slow,
4 minute cycle time in 2004

67. Visited new plant (now called Beijing
Benz in 2010)
• Pace of work is still slow relative to other auto
assembly plants
• The union had good input into workplace
issues prior to the move to the new plant and
was aware of the pace of work issue
presenting new challenges

68. Visited Beijing Hyundai in 2006
and 2010
• Pace of work seemed similar to Shanghai GM,
faster than Beijing Benz but slower than
Toyota Tianjin

69. Health & Safety isn’t a joint
problem
• It is workers who get hurt, not the boss
• So we believe it is workers who should have the
say in how to correct health and safety
problems in the workplace
• Workers have health and safety rights
• Employers have health and safety
responsibilities
• Unions must advise workers of their rights and
press employers to live up to their
responsibilities.

70. Companies should spend
• As much money on making workers
comfortable in their work as they do
making customers comfortable in the cars

71. Thanks very much!
• I welcome any comments or suggestions for
improvements to health and safety.